Stella Abrera of South Pasadena, California, began her studies with Philip and Charles Fuller and Cynthia Young at Le Studio in Pasadena. She continued her studies with Lorna Diamond and Patricia Hoffman at the West Coast Ballet Theatre in San Diego. She also spent three years studying the Royal Academy of Dancing method with Joan and Monica Halliday at the Halliday Dance Centre in Sydney, Australia.

Abrera joined American Ballet Theatre as a member of the corps de ballet in 1996 and was appointed a Soloist in 2001. Her repertoire with ABT includes the Girl in Afternoon of a Faun, Calliope in Apollo, Gamzatti and a Shade in La Bayadère, the Ballerina in The Bright Stream, the Fairy Godmother in Frederick Ashton's Cinderella, Cinderella in James Kudelka's Cinderella, Aurora in Coppélia, Gulnare and an Odalisque in Le Corsaire, She Wore a Perfume in Dim Lustre, the woman in white in Diversion of Angels, Mercedes, the Driad Queen and a Flower Girl in Don Quixote, Helena in The Dream, the first passerby in Fancy Free, Myrta and the peasant pas de deux in Giselle, Manon in Lady of the Camellias, Lescaut's Mistress in Manon, Katia in A Month in the Country, His Friend's Wife in The Moor's Pavane, the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Snow Queen in Kevin McKenzie's The Nutcracker, Clara, the Princess and one of The Nutcracker's Sisters in Alexei Ratmansky's The Nutcracker, Emilia in Othello, the Ballerina in Petrouchka, Henrietta in Raymonda, Lady Capulet and a Harlot in Romeo and Juliet, the Lilac Fairy, the Fairy of Valor and Princess Florine in The Sleeping Beauty, the pas de trois in Swan Lake, the violin in Symphonie Concertante, leading roles in Airs, Bach Partita, Baker's Dozen, Ballet Imperial, Birthday Offering, The Brahms-Haydn Variations, C. to C. (Close to Chuck), Everything Doesn't Happen at Once, In the Upper Room, Jabula, The Leaves Are Fading, Meadow, Petite Mort, Sinfonietta, Les Sylphides, Symphonic Variations, Symphony #9, Symphony in C, Thirteen Diversions, Within You Without You: A Tribute to George Harrison, Without Words and workwithinwork, and featured roles in Black Tuesday and Gong.

Abrera created the roles of His Memory and His Experiences in HereAfter, the Spanish Dance in Ratmansky's The Nutcracker, His Mistress in Weren't We Fools? and leading roles in Pièce d'Occasion with Herbie Hancock, Pretty Good Year and Seven Sonatas.

Abrera received the Gold Medal at the Royal Academy of Dancing's Adeline Genée Awards in London in 1995.

Ms. Abrera’s performances with American Ballet Theatre are sponsored by Mary Jo and Ted Shen.